This research which is about the Issues Involved in Designing ESP Courses for Kuwait Business Institute Students with Special Reference to Computer Science Students consists of seven chapters. The first chapter introduces Kuwait Business Institute. The second offers the historical background of ESP and a survey of its theoretical bases. The third gives an account of the three stages of KBI's life span along with a critical appreciation of the English language teaching materials used. The fourth presents questionnaires and constructed interviews used in identifying needs of employers, teachers and graduates and expounds their results. The fifth presents approaches to text analysis and a functional analysis of two chapters selected from two textbooks used by KBI computer science students. The sixth goes into the classroom with computer science teachers and students and presents an analysis of three lectures by three computer science teachers. The last chapter presents conclusions from a synthesis of findings. The findings call for the rejection and replacement of current English Language teaching materials. They also support a broader needs analysis. This should include views, concerning demands made by the language of the computer science academic courses content, of teachers, students and employers. It should also include the results of text analysis component of the relevant academic courses content. Recommendations and suggestions for further research when designing ESP courses for KBI computer science students in particular and students of different specialisations in general are made.

This study investigates the intensity of English vocabulary input available to non-English major university students in the Chinese classroom. It sets out to explore the lexical environment in China by addressing five core questions: 1. What are word lists in China like? 2. What is the relationship between the syllabus wordlist and the vocabulary presented in the textbooks? 3. What is the relationship between the words prescribed in the syllabus and the vocabulary presented in the classroom? 4. What is vocabulary instruction in China like? 5. Do the classrooms for English major university students provide a suitably rich lexical environment? In order to identify the number and types of words available for teaching and learning, my analysis involved an in-depth examination of the syllabus word lists and textbook word lists, cross-referenced to other ESL word lists. It was found that the vocabulary requirements in the syllabus and textbooks posed enormous demands on teachers in terms of the quantity of words to be covered. University students when they graduate should know 95% of the GSL and 83% of the AWL, but this only covers about half the total amount of English vocabulary input from the syllabus and the textbooks. They are exposed to many of the "other" words in print. In the classroom, teachers were found to teach a new word explicitly every 2.6 minutes, using vocabulary treatment methods in accordance with the culture of teaching and learning in Chinese contexts. It was found, however, that the teachers' oral input failed to provide a lexically rich environment for incidental vocabulary acquisition and that the words available from teacher talk were limited in both variation and frequency range.

This study aimed to explore the construct of Masters level clinical practice. A mixed methods approach converging quantitative and qualitative data was undertaken. Consensus of behaviours indicative of the construct was explored through a quantitative Delphi study. Participants represented a total population sample of Masters course tutors in healthcare (n = 48). Round 1 requested behaviours indicative of the construct. Quantitative content analysis informed the behaviours explored in round 2, where participants rated their relative importance. Round 3 asked participants to rank the behaviours in order of importance. Descriptive and inferential analysis enabled interpretation of consensus. The construct was also explored through an in-depth qualitative case study, using semi-structured interviews and participant observation. Purposive sampling selected the `case' of a manipulative physiotherapy course and the participants for the study. Analytic categories were derived from the data using a constant comparative process until saturation of the data were achieved. Theoretical propositions to identify the components of the construct were developed. The response rate for the Delphi study was very good (79.1%, 77.1% and 70.8% for rounds 1-3 respectively). Rounds 1 and 2 achieved good consensus enabling 21 agreed 'important' behaviours to be taken into round 3. The ranking process in round 3 afforded consensus overall, but also highlighted some differences between professions regarding the prioritisation of components of the construct. There was good convergence of the data with the case study, with clinical reasoning and knowledge identified as the most important components of the construct. The study has identified generic components of the construct of Masters level clinical practice. In addition specific components and their prioritisation for the speciality of manipulative physiotherapy are identified. Development of this work by exploring several case studies to enable further consideration of professions and specialities through analytic generalisation would be beneficial.

This study seeks to explicate the processes through which feminist analyses and perspectives were during the early 1970s incorporated into undergraduate sociology degree programmes. The narrative it presents is based on data produced through semi-structured interviews with sixteen women sociologists whose political and professional biographies identify them more or less closely with these events, and on evidence obtained from a range of documentary and other secondary sources. I argue that feminism's curricular achievements may be understood as outcomes both of developments within the feminist public sphere and the institutionalised discipline of sociology and of struggles concerning the definition and structure of the 1970s sociological field. Only when attention is directed towards the social relations of academic production and the broader political, institutional and intellectual contexts in which these are located does the challenge of feminist sociology become fully apparent.

This research is mainly concerned with establishing the vocabulary learning needs and goals of the Engineering students from Southeast Asia studying at British universities. The research was motivated by the needs to enhance the reading skills of these students. Subtechnical and technical vocabulary are the focus of this investigation. The research is based on data derived from a 536,051 word corpus of text from recommended Engineering textbooks. The relative frequency and range of lexis within the corpus was found to be a good criterion for identifying subtechnical and technical vocabulary. The students proved to have a better receptive knowledge of subtechnical than technical vocabulary. The research suggests that there is a need for collaborative work between ESP teachers and subject teachers to help the students with technical vocabulary. The thesis is divided into nine chapters. Chapter One is a review of literature to the research. It clarifies various definitions and concepts, describes the research approach, and provides a framework of the thesis. Chapter Two investigates my subjects overall vocabulary knowledge. Chapter Three introduces some preliminary data that contrasts the received opinions in ESP regarding technical and subtechnical vocabulary. For further investigation of these two types of vocabulary, Chapter Four describes the data on which empirical studies are based. Chapter Five analyses the data. Chapter Six presents the empirical studies and concludes that students receptive knowledge of subtechnical vocabulary is better than their technical vocabulary. Chapter Seven examines the reasons why technical vocabulary was problematic. Chapter Eight summarises the research findings and proposes pedagogical implications in the teaching of subtechnical and technical vocabulary to the specified group of learners. And Chapter Nine draws conclusions, discusses limitations of the research and makes recommendations for future research.

This thesis is about performance measurement in higher education. It brings in different stakeholders' perspectives on performance measurement, in UK universities using data envelopment analysis. The introduction gives the background of the higher education sector in the UK at present and its history. It introduces the drive for performance measurement in higher education, and the motivation for the dissertation. The method data envelopment analysis is then described. The traditional use of performance indicators and peer assessment is reviewed and the use of DEA, instead of parametric techniques, is justified. The opportunity to use DEA in a somewhat different way than previously is identified. The novel proposed framework integrates in the same analysis the perspectives of three different levels of stakeholders. Firstly, the perspective of the applicant in the process of choosing a university to apply to; secondly, the perspective of the State that funds and evaluates university performance; and finally the institutional perspective. In the applicant's perspective, the use of DEA in university selection is compared to existing methods. The new approach devised recognises the different values of students and is empirically tested in a case study at a comprehensive school. This chapter clearly deals with a choice problem, and the link with MCDM is first approached. Finally, a comprehensive decision support system that includes DEA for university selection is arrived at. Then the relationship between the State and higher education over time is described, the current operational model explained and the future trends outlined. In order to measure performance, according to the mission and objectives of the state/ funding councils, a review of their three main remits is undertaken. The contribution of DEA to inform the State/ funding councils in their remit is then discussed. The problem of taking account of subject mix factor in the measurement of performance is dealt with, by linking the input/ output divide by means of virtual weights restrictions. It is shown how institutions can turn performance measurement to their own benefit, by using it as a formative exercise to understand the different expectations of them, by the two previous external evaluations. A methodology for institutional performance management is proposed that takes into account the external/ internal interfaces: the applicant/ institution, and state/ institution interfaces. The methodology is illustrated with an application to the University of Warwick. Virtual weights restrictions are widely used in this thesis, a reflection on its uses is offered. The reasons for mainly using virtual weights restrictions instead of absolute weights restrictions are explained. The use of proportional weights restrictions is reviewed, and the reasons for using simple virtual weights and virtual assurance regions in this thesis is ascertained. Alternatives to using virtual weights restrictions are considered, namely using absolute weights restrictions with a virtual meaning. The relationship between DEA and MCDM in this domain is elaborated upon. Several conclusions are arrived at and novel contributions are made to the knowledge of the subject treated: the importance of bringing in the perspectives of different stakeholders in an integrated approach; the contribution of DEA in choice problems; handling subject mix by means of virtual assurance regions; data availability policy is found to be inadequate; a more appropriate way of comparing departments within a university; and the superiority of virtual assurance regions to represent preference structures and link the input-output divide.

The stimulus for this study was problems I encountered in my teaching of academic writing to first year undergraduates majoring in English at a Moroccan university. Their problems ranged from sentence, to paragraph to essay levels. Added to that was my realization that the teaching of writing is mainly product-oriented and that practice is far from theory. Students are expected to produce good writing, but the means for helping them attain the required writing standards are not clearly identified or provided. A focus on narrative writing seems not to serve the purpose of training students to make their voices heard in argumentative writing. Reliance on lecturing as a means of teaching writing robs the writing class of an appealing social environment. These problems combined with a personal desire to improve my teaching by researching my professional practice against the insights of theory; all these factors gathered to stimulate me to undertake the present research. This project is based on the teaching of a writing programme I developed based on my previous experience as a writing teacher and on student need. In its progressive teaching of writing the programme follows a process approach; however, the product perspective is also important. Students are exposed to three types of feedback on multiple-draft writing: self-monitored feedback using annotations; peer feedback; and teacher written feedback and taped commentary. The aim is to encourage them to experience writing as an interactive process, from the pre-writing activities through the actual writing and revising to the writing of a final draft, rather than as a monotonous solitary activity performed under exam pressure. Using a case study approach this qualitative inquiry looks into the extent to which students make use of the different types of feedback in their revisions, their attitudes to the feedback procedures, and whether text quality improves over the drafts during the course period. For this purpose various data collection tools have been used. These include questionnaires, in-depth interviews, students' writings, audio-taped recordings of student peer feedback sessions, teacher written and taped comments, and student diaries. In line with previous research, the present study has shown that self-monitored feedback using annotations can help identify problematic areas in writing, but it has also added that annotations can unveil students' perceptions of what constitutes good writing. Moreover, the study has demonstrated that peer feedback activities are not only helpful in terms of encouraging revision but that they have other cognitive, linguistic and affective benefits. Finally, there is strong evidence that teacher written feedback is still considered by students to be a major source of help and that they do take it into consideration in their revisions. In addition, teacher taped commentary, a type of feedback which has received little attention in the literature, is an effective means of commenting on content and organisation and focusing student revision on these areas. Students have also appreciated it and acknowledged its cognitive, linguistic, affective, and practical benefits. Furthermore, the study has shown that although students' writings have not systematically, and regularly, improved from first to second drafts, i. e. after revision following peer feedback, there is a tendency for improvement from second to third drafts. i. e. after revision following teacher feedback. On the whole, improvement in text quality varied from one student to another and also from one draft to another for the same student. The main implications are that the one-draft writing tendency in the context of the study should give way to multiple-draft writing. The motivating force of revision can be promoted and enhanced through the use of different types of feedback on separate drafts. More importantly; however, the writing class should cater for student need by making use of motivational instructional and feedback activities.

This is an ethnographic study of student teacher socialization located in a college of higher education. Drawing upon Lacey's research on teacher socialization, the study examines the processes of change and adaptation which a group of twenty-five mature women students underwent during their first year of a four year, B. Ed course. The research approach sits firmly within the qualitative paradigm and employs participant observation, interviews, life history methods and an interactionist perspective to further understanding about how mothers and wives learn to become students. A central feature of the study is the use of the concept of social strategy to explain change, particularly in relation to the way in which the women manage the demands of academic and family responsibilities. The construction of adaptive and coping strategies arise from a tightly interwoven relationship of life history, situational, institutional and structural features. Analyses of the progressive development of strategies revealed that becoming a student teacher was differentially experienced according to material resources, biographical and historical factors. The study offers a holistic analysis of student socialization in which the complexity of adaptation is revealed through the interrelationship of gender, identity, life course, strategies and the negotiation of change. An important part of this change is the emergence of a student teacher and academic identity, both of which are perceived as highly valued, new aspects of self, as well as being a significant part of student teacher socialization. In this hitherto under researched educational and sociological area of inquiry, the way in which biography and structure intersect with gender, reveals the uneasy blend of struggle, contestation, guilt and success which became a daily feature of the women's lives as they strove to reconcile the competing claims on their lives as mothers, wives and full-time students.

This dissertation presents an in-depth, qualitative case study that documents the efforts of two UK universities to integrate on-line learning technologies into their teaching practices and course design. It has been claimed that on-line learning technologies have the capacity to transform the provision of higher education. In order to address such claims, participant / observer research was conducted at two institutions, simultaneously, over a period of 18 months. Using ideas from the sociology of association, the organisational, pedagogic and technological activities surrounding the case study institutions' purchase and integration of two leading on-line learning technologies are described. Distinctions between different areas of activity both in and around the university are represented as they emerged 'in practice', allowing ostentive divisions between, for example, 'the education', 'the technological' and 'the organisation' to be temporarily, placed to one side. Building on these empirically grounded findings, this thesis considers the question of 'educational values'. Powerful discourses relating to knowledge, learning and the 'market for education' currently compete for primacy over pedagogic, epistemic and educational interests. By rejecting normative ascriptions of value, in either economic or moral terms, this thesis considers 'values-in-practice', or 'valence' as the enacted priorities that are set as part of organisational work. Through this analysis, values are understood as the basis upon which lines of reason or 'ways of reckoning' are constructed. This analytical approach is shown to be particularly relevant to the study of complex, integration work, where totalising or dichotomous conceptions of knowledge prove insufficient to capture or inform processes of negotiation. Together, the concepts of valence and ways of reckoning serve to support critical reflection on how educational values are constructed in the case of on-line learning. It is argued that only by understanding education as a collective endeavour, capable of promoting and supporting substantive diversity, can educational priorities be properly assessed and asserted.

This thesis is an attempt to explain some of the factors impacting on e-mail adoption and use in undergraduates. It is an extended case study, and therefore real world based, spanning eight years from 1993 to 2001, the population under scrutiny being five cohorts of undergraduates studying Psychology at a Scottish University. In a time of rapid technological advance, where computer experience is rising, access to computers is widespread, and IT training is compulsory for students in the institution under investigation, e-mail use has changed too. However, an unexpected drop in e-mail use during the 1996/97 session seemed to be atypical and led the original focus of the thesis away from individual differences such as computer experience, computer related attitudes, gender and personality, towards social and situational factors. Careful observation of the 1993/94 and 1994/95 cohorts’ e-mail behaviour, using surveys, e-mail logs, and examination of e-mail messages, provided insight into the unique nature of the e-mail environment for these groups. The final conclusions of the thesis are that what appeared to be small features of the e-mail system, and the nature of the computer laboratories where access was restricted to the class, provided the requirements for an e-mail community to form. Some significant results were found for individual differences, and these had some effect on the adoption of mail by the earliest users (those who really instigated the network) but a minimal effect on eventual e-mail use with the class. A group of enthusiastic e-mail users, with very little training in the system, began to mail either groups of classmates, or individuals, making use of the system’s list of class e-mail addresses, and the list of users logged on to the system. These were speculative messages to unknown recipients but they were to individuals the senders knew they had some common interest with as they were in the same social group (the class). The mail was mainly of a social nature, often almost synchronous, and obviously enjoyable to those who adopted the novel technology. The e-mail messages revealed evidence of ‘playfulness’ in the exchanges ranging from the use of nicknames in headers, signatures, and distribution of poetry, song lyrics, jokes and graphics. The class was large and forming e-mail relationships was one way of ‘meeting’ others. This behaviour was missing in the 1996/97 sample, when e-mail was not available in the computer laboratories. E-mail was available throughout the campus but the computer laboratory became a place for work only, and not for communication with classmates. In the 1999/00 and 2001/02 cohorts there is still no evidence of an electronic community forming in the class, despite even more computers being available for e-mail. Changeover to a university-wide e-mail system for students has removed the features that were so important to the formation of the network in the 1993/94 and 1994/95 cohorts.